This old van is just great, a workshop on wheels. Tools and parts for most situations I’m likely to run into. NO stupid gimmicks like power windows or anything like that to break. Just a simple vehicle that gets the job done, usually in one trip. Big enough for everything I need for work and small enough to parallel park downtown. It’s paid for and 12 MPG is not bad. I expect to be using it for a long time.
I don’t trust new vehicles until they prove themselves. Still, the manufacturers are replacing simple parts with complicated ones. Switches have replaced handles in many cases and if you have a grounded wire, it’s useless. They certainly don’t overbuild this stuff anymore and they make unusual, proprietary parts to get you back to the dealer parts department. The aftermarket makes parts available if there is demand, that’s why the manufacturers change the designs so often. I think most of us have taken a beating in the parts room for their under-built, over-priced peace of shit, unreliable parts. The more of these a vehicle contains, the less I trust it. $4500 ain’t nearly enough for my big ol’, good ol’ girl!
These days, I only drive a couple of days a week and use my bike the rest of the time, so there! No green guilt on my part.
